﻿If you love the BNP Paribas Tournament in Indian Wells, this tennis experience will make you want to go!

Indian Wells has always been special. When my husband and I were dating, we met up in Palm Springs to see each other. I flew in from Newark, NJ and William flew down from Sacramento, California. As my husband used to say “they made a movie about us.” We had a cross country relationship. We would fly to see each other, or meet somewhere. Indian Wells was one of the first places where we made this happen. The tournament was magical. We were drawn into the beautiful surroundings. Amidst the desert, the BNP Paribas Open was inviting. William had just started playing tennis, so we did not play tennis while at the Venue, our first trip. We enjoyed the tournament, so have made an effort to return, as often as possible. In 2015, we played tennis at La Quinta Resort and Spa for the first time.

On that particular visit, we were part of the Ritz Carlton Reward Card Memorable Experience – Tennis Lovers. The experience was a weekend of tennis with Stan Smith and Martina Hingis, staying at The Ritz Carlton at Rancho Mirage, California. The tennis playing portion of that trip included playing tennis at La Quinta Resort and Spa. During our experience, Stan Smith surprised our group with special guests. The Bryan Brothers. Only in our dreams would we be on the court with the Bryan Brothers, playing out double points, playing against Tom Gorman and Stan Smith, and not to forget, Martina Hingis. We realized at the time, how can we ever top this tennis experience?

This year, we were able to make it back to Indian Wells from New Jersey. Since we play tennis indoors during the fall and winter, our objective was to find a tennis camp or tennis facility to play tennis, stay in a nice resort to take in the beautiful California weather, in addition to seeing the tennis tournament. We found a tennis camp that we could participate in, in addition to having tickets to the BNP Paribas tennis tournament. The tennis camp was at La Quinta Resort. We have been to many tennis camps/resorts; however, our Pro, Steve was awesome. His specialty was positioning on the tennis court.

Steve’s Tips:

What side is more important, the deuce or ad? Everyone said the ad court side. He said, the deuce court side is more important, because they have to win the point for the ad court side to have the opportunity to win.

Serve tip. When you bounce the ball before you serve, bounce it in front of the baseline, not behind it. The toss is visualization. So if you bounce the ball in front of the line, you will toss the ball in front of the line.

Positioning tip. If you were unable to hit the ball at the net after your opponent returned the ball, adjust by going back to the service line. Do not stay planted at the net. You have to move with the ball. If you stay at the net, you will get lobbed, or someone will put a ball through you.

Participated in two morning sessions of the Adult Tennis Academy run by Lynn Rolley

Choice of hard courts or har tru courts

Academy is run during the BNP Paribas tournament week

Format: Up to 6 people per court, grouped by level of tennis

Drills:

Warm up short court

Volley drill – two at the net, hitting back to Pro, keeping one ball in play as long as possible

Two up, two back – play out points

One up, one back – play out points

Practice serve

Play out points, serving, standard positioning

Play out points, serving, Australian positioning

Overhead drill (touch net between each shot, hit 5-10 overheads)

After the first morning, I asked Steve, will we have you as our coach tomorrow? He said, probably not. I was very excited the next morning, when we were in his group again!

Final Words:

La Quinta Resort and Spa is special because it is a tennis player’s heaven. Everywhere you look, people are walking to and from the tennis courts with their tennis racquets. The enthusiasm of the tennis teaching professionals was contagious. The hour and half clinic was time well spent. I’m just wondering, when I can come back to Indian Wells and take advantage of a longer tennis stay and play, at La Quinta Resort and Club.Two tips: Enroll in the early session, it gets hot fast, in March. Lastly, if you are staying off the property, get there early for parking.